The Purple Eradicator
by Splish98
Summary: The superhero craze has well and truly begun in NY. With Kick Ass and Red Mist taking down criminals others begin to wonder about becoming a superhero, including Penny. Based on the film. Bad language, sexual references, action and comedy.
1. Chapter 1

This is actually based half way through the film and after it (I've now read the comic but I prefer Red Mist in the film). Romance, bit of my comedy (hope you enjoy it too) and action. Bad language and sexual references, shouldn't go too far.

I do not own anyone but Penny, the annoying girls and Penny and Todd's dad.

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"Excuse me?" A man and his daughter walked a little in front of me. "Excuse me? You dropped your bag!" I called, I picked up the (surprisingly heavy) handbag and the little girl took it from me with a "Thank you."

They walked on quickly and I smiled.

I turned around and was almost squashed by twenty policemen running after the man and his daughter.

It turned out the handbag I had picked up had a lot of jewellery that had been stolen from a house nearby.

How was I to know that I was actually helping a criminal and not a little innocent girl? I was never very good at telling who was a bad person from a good. You'd think I would be better at it because my mum was in prison. If you're expecting an "I will avenge you" story you would be wrong. My mum should have gone to prison, there was a dead body in our shed that she had killed with a screwdriver. Who knew?

I lived with my dad and my older half-brother Todd, he was only a few months older than me. What can I say my dad was a man whore, I'm the reason Todd's mum and my dad broke up. I grew up in England with my mum, she left for England as soon as she found out she was having me. Todd's mum could have been anywhere with her new husband, Brian. My dad was stuck with both of us now, as soon as mum went to prison my dad had to take me in, and even though he said he enjoyed it I knew he could wait for us to leave home.

At school I wish I could say I was the bright kid who had a few good friends, but no I was one of the most popular girls in school. I hated it. I know, I know, "poor" little popular girl, having so many friends she can hardly move. Well for one thing I was claustrophobic. I was in an episode of "Casualty" back home and as soon as I mentioned it I became popular. Of course, no one had any idea what the show was but I lied and said I was friends with some of the actors. Big no, no. From that moment on I was surrounded by annoying squealing girls who repeatedly asked whether or not I'd met Harry Potter. No, no I have not.

Although I was popular I was a major comic book geek, and proud of it. My day would consist of either; gymnastics, ballet or kick boxing, (yeah, I know, weird combo, but I was pretty damn good at all three, a brown belt in kickboxing) and then homework followed by comics. I had always wanted to be a superhero. I mean who wouldn't _think_ about it after watching a superhero film. Not that I would pick any power in particular, every time I wanted a power I would think of a reason not to want it for example; flying- I was afraid of heights, invisibility- you just get trampled on etc.

So when this guy, Kick Ass, appeared the only thing I wanted to do was follow in his footsteps. I knew the chances were I would die but I've watched enough disney films to believe that the good guy always wins and survives in the end.

The day Red Mist was on the TV, for catching a drug dealer, I was at the comic book store with my brother and his friends Dave and Marty.

I wanted to get away from my usual crowd so Todd had very kindly let me tag along. Partly because he liked to torture me, I had a small crush on Dave, Todd liked to use this to his advantage. Every time I didn't do something that he wanted me to do Todd would look at Dave, open his mouth and I'd chicken out and I'd do what he wanted me too. I was looking at "Impulse" comics when Katie and her friend walked in.

I was stood opposite the richest boy in New York. Chris D'Amico. His dad owned pretty much everything in New York. Chris would sometimes smile at me but his bodyguard would stand in the way every time I tried to talk to him.

The TV was turned up and there was a picture of a boy wearing a red and black leather costume with the same colour hair and an eye mask. He had a slight speech impediment and for some reason I seemed to recognise him. When the piece finished Katie discussed who was better looking out of Red Mist and Kick Ass. I laughed out loud when she asked Dave for his opinion. _I _knew Dave wasn't gay. Marty and Todd had told me the whole story.

"So." I heard a voice in front of me and jumped. "What do you think of this new superhero?" Chris had sent his bodyguard back a few paces and was grinning at me. His voice was quite soft and he had a very similar speech impediment to Red Mist.

"Oh, um, well good on him, I guess." I was taken aback by his talking to me. "I mean Kick Ass hasn't locked away any proper criminals yet but I guess he's listening to the people. He's performing little jobs that make a difference to a lot of people. But then again getting rid of a drug dealer is probably saving lives." I laughed nervously, "Sorry, I like both him and Kick Ass it seems." I blushed and stuck out my hand. "Hi, I'm Penny."

"Chris." His bodyguard stared at us as we shook hands. "You from Australia or London?"

"Neither, I'm from England but I'm actually from Birmingham. It's in the West Midlands."

"Sorry, my mistake." Chris blushed slightly.

"Don't worry about it." There was an awkward silence, "So, what do you think of Kick Ass and Red Mist?"

"Red Mist seems cooler." He said with a grin, "But you're right about Kick Ass, he is doing some good by helping normal people."

Katie walked up behind me. "Hey. So you here with Dave and the boys?" She pretended to look at the comics and before I could answer her I crouched down and closed my eyes. "Please don't see me, please don't see me." Chris and Katie looked at me strangely as a gaggle of girls walked into the store giggling annoyingly.

They each squealed as they saw me. "What are you doing here, Penny? I thought you were spending time with your family?" One girl, Cam, asked accusingly.

"I am." I replied darkly and I nodded at my brother.

"Oh my gawd have you seen the new superhero wanna-be?" Giggled another girl, I didn't even try to figure out which one it was. Chris smiled as I turned back to the comics, hoping my over active imagination would drown them out.

"Yeah, what do you think Penny?" I heard my name and woke out of my trance.

"What do I think of what?"

"Cam thinks Kick Ass has a stupid costume but has a nice ass, Lucy thinks Red Mist has a good body," I noticed Chris became quite interested in the conversation. "what do you think?"

I felt very self conscious, I didn't want to say in front of Chris D'Amico. "I don't know."

"Yeah you do you just don't wanna tell us." Said Lucy slightly agitated.

"Alright, fine. Will you get out of the store though? There are people trying to have a quiet coffee." I looked at the barman and he smiled appreciably.

"Tell us first."

"Alright," Dave, Todd and Marty moved closer to me so they could hear my answer, "Red Mist is hotter." Chris smiled smugly and Dave grimaced. "Now will you go and leave these poor people in peace?"

My "friends" left grumbling away to themselves. "What's so great about Red Mist?" Asked Dave.

"I dunno really. He _has _got a better body than Kick Ass and his hairs cool, plus he's gotta cape." Katie and her friend agreed with me. Dave didn't look impressed.

I turned around and Chris was gone. "When did he leave?" I asked Katie and she shrugged.

That night I was surfing the internet, this superhero idea was starting to appeal to me. I had four comics by my side. Spider-girl, Invisible Woman, Marvel Girl and Oracle stared in each comic, not together obviously. I wanted to be a mixture of them, a strong woman, who fought crime and looked hot at the same time. To become them I would have had to have radiation poisoning, be bitten by a radioactive spider, already have the power or (furthest from them all) a _lot _of money. But I didn't want to _be_ them, I wanted to be _like_ them.

First, I had to get the costume. Black leather trousers and purple tight fitting leather boots, that were probably only worn by transvestites, were first on the list. Easy enough but expensive, plus I'm terrible when it comes to shopping so it took me a few days to get _those. _Next was the jacket and then the mask. I looked on the internet and found a black jacket, I changed the arm colour to purple and brought a pair of purple leather gloves. I then searched for the mask, I chose one that covers the eyes.

The day my costume arrived there was a live broadcast, shown on the news, about the unveiling of Kick Ass, at first I was disappointed because it would have been cool to work with him and Red Mist. I stared at the screen in horror as Kick Ass and a man who looked like Batman were beaten to a pulp. Todd had gone to meet Marty in the comic book store, so I couldn't see what he thought, my brother could be quite unpredictable. There was something I recognised about Kick Ass. Maybe it was his less-than-manly screams but he reminded me of Dave.

After a short while the news broadcaster announced they could not show any more of the clip but it was still be uploaded onto the internet. I put it up on my laptop screen and watched as a little girl no more than eleven years old murdered all of the men beating up the two tied up superheroes. She then shot the camera and I was in awe of her. Fuck Marvel Girl and the rest of them. I wanted to be like _her._

My name; The Purple Eradicator.

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Ok I hope you enjoyed the first instalment, this _will_ go somewhere. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

The first few days after the "unveiling" I spent training and trying to get in touch with Kick Ass. Everyone heard about Frank D'Amico's death and how it was supposedly Kick Ass and the girl (who had killed all the guys at the unveiling) who had killed him. No one had seen Chris for a little while and Red Mist vanished. At first I wondered whether it was worth it, being a superhero seemed to be a lot of hard work.

I tagged along with my brother, Dave, Katie, Marty and Marty's girlfriend to the comic book store. I had become strangely quiet and for some reason Todd decided it was because of Dave and Katie. "Look, you knew nothing was going to happen between you two anyway." Todd said quietly nodding towards Dave.

"What? Oh, no I knew that. What's your point?"

"You've been mopping around for days now."

"That's not about Dave and Katie." I whispered angrily.

"Then what is it?"

"Well, I-I can't tell you." I told him and he didn't look impressed.

"Whoever he is I'll punch his lights out."

"What made you think that I was moping because of a guy?"

Todd shrugged and looked back down at the comics. The door opened and in walked in a very pale boy with a new bodyguard. I glanced up and saw Chris as he made his way to the back of the store.

The whole shop had gone silent. I looked up at the Kick Ass comics and costumes. That would be the last thing Chris would want to see. "Is it that guy?" I heard a voice next to me say.

"No, Todd."

Dave wrapped his arm around Katie and glared towards Chris. I walked over in Chris's direction, just far enough that if he wanted to talk to me he could but I didn't look suspicious. _We only met the once. _I thought to myself.

I admired the newer comics that were nearby. "Hey." Chris smiled at me sadly.

"Hi." I couldn't keep the sympathy out of my voice.

"How are you?" I could see him trying to remember my name.

"I'm fine. And you, how are you?"

"Coping." He said bobbing his head sadly. I had the urge to hug him but I thought his bodyguard might actually stab me.

I heard frightened mutters from the other side of the store but ignored them. I wanted to ask Chris where he had been but knew the answer would depress him so I turned to the comic in his hand. "You're reading Impulse comics?"

"Yeah, I saw you reading it last time so I thought I'd have a look." He smiled bashfully and I felt a hand on my arm.

I looked up to see Dave "Can I speak to you a minute? Sorry." He dragged me away from Chris. "You shouldn't be talking to him."

"Excuse me?" I was dumbfounded. Dave had hardly ever spoken to me before, I had lived in New York for eight years and he'd hardly ever acknowleged me.

"He's bad news, Penny."

"Who are you to stop me from talking from him? You're not my brother."

"Would it stop you if I got Todd to speak to you?"

"What? No, jeez what's got into you?"

"Please, I'm doing this for your own good." Dave's anger washed away and he was now begging me.

"I can look after myself." I turned from him and walked back to Chris, I noticed Todd's face as he realised what Dave had said to me. He didn't look impressed.

"Sorry about that. My brother's friend's a dickhead." I smiled sarcastically and Chris laughed.

"Do you wanna coffee?" Chris asked out of the blue.

I agreed and we walked the short distance to the café on the other side of the shop, I had hoped he meant somewhere else. Todd raised his eyebrows at me and I glared at him.

Dave stared at me and Chris the whole time we were sat together. It was really starting to get on my nerves. "Tell me about your home, in England."

"Oh, well it was quite small with a large back garden, me and mum lived just outside Birmingham. She said the schools were better but I think it was because everyone left everyone else alone. The house always smelt of smoke, even though neither me or mum smoked."

"It was just you and your mum?"

"Dad was here with Todd."

"Why did you come back to America?"

"Oh," I knew this was the end of whatever date we were having. Murder wasn't the most romantic topic. Then again he was Frank D'Amico's son. "well, my mother murdered a man."

"Huh." Chris looked confused and I let it sink in a little bit. "Murder?"

"Yup."

"Huh." After a short pause he added, "Ok."

_What the fuck? _"Wow, no one's reacted like that before."

"I'm not just anyone." He replied confidently.

I felt myself blush.

Todd tapped my arm. "We better get home. Dad will wonder where we are."

"Todd, this is Chris. Chris this is my brother Todd."

"Nice to meet you. We really have to go." The two guys briefly shook hands.

"Alright. Here." I gave Chris my number. "If you wanna meet up again or something."

Todd dragged me out of the store his face was like thunder.

"What's the hurry?" I asked Todd, he was acting strangely.

"First off, it's starting to get dark so muggers are going to come out soon and second I think Dave was about to rip Chris's head off. I don't know what's gotten into him." Todd genuinely looked concerned.

That night was the first night The Purple Eradicator was going to fight crime. I got into my costume then realised that I would need to get out of the house without being noticed. There was a drainpipe next to my window and I climbed down it. I thanked god for my gloves as I stuck my hand on a nettle as I fell to the ground.

I searched New York, jumping over rooftops and walking in the shadows. I saw a pair of men mugging an old lady down an alleyway as I prowled the streets, _This is it. Now or never._ Something inside of me screamed never.

I walked through the shadows. "What do you think you're doing?" I whispered, to my annoyance in my Batman impersonation.

One of the men stopped, "Who's there?"

"Just me." I said brightly staying in the shadows. That didn't work either, how could I be intimidating when I sounded so happy.

"I'd get lost if I were you." Said the other man. The old woman was cowering on the floor.

"I could say the same thing to you. Get away from the old woman or feel my wrath." I was suddenly reminded of Virgil's Aeneid, god I hated that book.

The two men laughed, "Fine then." I said doing a double front flip in their direction. I kicked one in the face and broke his nose it made a crack that sounded like thunder. "Call 911!" I told the woman kicking the other man in the stomach and winding him. I felt a punch in my kidneys but my bullet proof vest softened the blow.

I turned and round house kicked the man behind me he fell to the floor like a corpse. I knew the other was up again so I punched his balls. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor. I turned to the other slightly more butch man who had returned to his feet. "Alright girly. You wanna play?" The man said pulling out a knife.

I laughed. I heard the sirens of police behind me and smiled darkly. "It seems playtime is over." I did a forward flip followed by a jab into the mans nose, it broke, and returned to the shadows. I walked up a fire escape and watched as the two men were arrested and put in the cars.

A policeman looked into the sky and shook his head. "There was someone here. That old lady couldn't do this and phone the cops at the same time."

I smiled, my work was done. I turned and let the wind inflate my cape. "There!" I heard the same cop shout.

I turned, than ran as fast as I could away from the scene. I hadn't done anything wrong, completely the opposite in fact, but the last thing I wanted was to be caught. _Coward._

I returned to my house and nursed my fist. Falling asleep with my hand in the warm water mixed with TCP.

"Listen to this, a new one's popped up!" My dad told me excitedly at breakfast. He turned up the volume.

"A new wh-"

"Shh." Todd told me.

A black woman newsreader spoke, "A new superhero has appeared on the streets of New York. Sources say she helped an elderly lady who was being mugged. We have no images of this new hero but the elderly lady, Doris Johnson, said she had a dark costume and a cape. She wishes to thank this costumed crusader…"

I zoned out happy in the knowledge I had done some good.

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Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed and well, tell me what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to all my reviewers and all the fans who have story alerted and favourited this fic. You all make my day!!

This is for you!

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School was boring the hell out of me. The girls who followed me everywhere were not even letting me breath. "Penny, we saw you hanging out with Chris D'Amico yesterday."

"You did?" I said, bored. I opened my locker and pulled out a biology book and replaced it with an English textbook.

"Yeah, it seemed cosy." Giggled Cam.

"Really?" I yawned.

"So, are you seeing him?"

I pondered on the question for a little while, Chris hadn't called me, he hadn't even texted me. Then again it had only been one day.

I shrugged. It seemed the best answer. I closed my locker slowly and Cam got the idea, "Girls I think we should go watch the basketball match in the gym." The rest were prepared to follow her and I smiled thankfully.

To tell the truth they were terrified of me, one time I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open and they were all really pissing me off. So I screamed at them for no reason. Luckily for them Todd walked by at that moment and calmed me down. He had that ability.

I lent against my locker, I needed caffeine. In fact, I would have killed for a cuppa. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I winced as I reached to get it,_ God my arms hurt._ I didn't recognise the number and picked up the phone, "Hello?" I sighed sounding annoyed.

"Penny?" A concerned voice replied.

"Yeah?"

"It's Chris." My heart skipped a beat, _Oh my god._

"Hey." I replied happily.

"Is this a good time?"

"Yep, what's up?" "_What's up?" Douche. _I thought to myself.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come see a film with me tonight?" He started rabbiting on about a film but I didn't care what we were going to watch, my answer was an unequivocal, "Yes, I'd love to."

The rest of the day seemed to go even slower than before and I ran home. My dad was watching some kind of sport. "Hey, hun."

"Hey dad." I replied running up the stairs.

I dropped my bag on the floor and started panicking about what I would wear. I needed to wear my costume. Just in case. My dad stormed into the room without knocking. "Dad, what if I was getting changed?" I turned to him with my hands on my hips and sat on the bright purple gloves on the bed.

"Sorry, I just wondered what you were up to tonight."

"Oh, I'm actually going to watch a film."

"With?"

"A boy." I knew that it probably wasn't the best answer I could have given my dad but he didn't seem to mind.

"Oh, well me and your brother are going to grab something to eat, later. We might not be home when you get back. Just be safe." He left leaving me stunned. I shook my head hoping he didn't actually say what he had said.

The film wasn't the best but did give me some new fighting techniques. Chris was obviously nervous, that or he was actually gay. He didn't make a move on me until over half way through the film, he finally put his arm around me but didn't go any further. I considered kissing him but I chickened out. _I can fight criminals but I can't kiss a boy who wouldn't kill a fly. Idiot._

When me and Chris walked out of the cinema we heard blood curdling screams. I started to panic. I had to help whoever it was. "I gotta go, sorry." I walked away from the boy, who looked confused, and put on my gloves, mask and boots. I had stored them in a backpack unfortunately, I hadn't stored my bullet-proof vest.

I climbed a ladder up to the rooftops. I could see the group not too far away. Only a few rooftops. I easily jumped the gaps between each roof and stood staring at the group laying into one guy lead on the floor. I flipped towards the group and crouched, staying in the shadows. One of them heard me.

"Who's there?"

I was stood right behind the guy who spoke, "Your worst nightmare." I said in my Batman impression, why couldn't I fight anyone without doing that impression? I felt like I stole the line from something.

I kicked the nearest member behind the knees making him fall to them like a man praying. I cart wheeled and in the middle of it kicked out, I felt something crunch followed by a high pitched scream, they had a woman with them. I stood and smiled at the silhouettes, I could only see them because of a street light below us.

The guy I had hurt before was trying to get off of his knees. I kicked him in the face and felt some of his teeth give in, I was suddenly reminded of a playdough dentist game but pushed the thought from my brain. I stood over the figure they had been attacking and glared at the others who were staring at me, to scared to move. "Who's next?"

I smiled menacingly. They moved back and I walked toward them. I ran at them and jumped but one of the guys had a crowbar that I felt the full blast of. The sound of it hitting me echoed through my body. It winded me and threw me to the floor. _That is going to hurt in the morning._ I spluttered, coughed and jumped back up. Putting my foot in front of one guy and he tripped. The woman hadn't moved, she was cradling her face.

Something moved in the corner of my eye that made each of the group stop and look. They each ran one at a time. I didn't look away from the silhouette stood in the distance and clutched my stomach. "You ok?" I asked the figure next to me.

I had noticed the figure hadn't moved the whole time I was there. I now realised why. I was asking a dummy if he was ok.

"You walked straight into my trap." The mystery figure laughed.

"Who are you?" I asked angrily.

"Red Mist. And you? You've been quite a mystery to the whole of New York. I don't like mysteries."

"The Purple Eradicator."

"Eradicator?"

"It means killer."

After a short pause, "Sounds like erection."

I looked at the floor confused, then back at Red Mist. "Not really. That's not what this is about, why did you set a trap?"

"I don't need another 'superhero' messing up my plans."

"So you're a 'super villain' now?" I actually was disappointed.

"You could say that." He jumped off the ledge and walked towards me. I couldn't see his face because of the little lighting. "So I'm going to offer you a choice, join me in the fight against good" I suppressed a laugh, "or carry on this idiotic business and become another one of my mortal enemies. You will be killed if you carry this on. It's only a matter of time."

I walked so close to him that I could feel his breath on my face, "You can shove it. I don't roll with tossers."

"So be it." He replied through his teeth.

He went to punch me in the stomach but I jumped and used him as a hobby horse. I pressed his shoulders and flipped over him and kicked the back of his knees. He fell into a praying position so I punched him in the spine and kicked him in the kidneys.

He grabbed my leg and pulled me to the floor as I went to kick him in the face. He got up and stomped on my stomach, I cried out in agony. He kicked my side and I rolled away. I slowly got to my feet, spitting on the floor. I stared at Red Mist and then flipped towards him, I punched once underneath his chin and heard his mask fly off, I then punched his face with both fists in two different places. I then felt his fist hit my chin and I stumbled backward. I felt blood drip down my chin from my split lip. I ran at him and kicked him in the balls as hard as I could. He fell to the floor clutching himself. I had the mad urge to shout "she shoots, she scores!"

"See ya later, slick." I laughed as I ran to the other side of the roof and jumped off.

I ran home tears stinging both my eyes. The fight had been the most exhilarating thing I had ever done and adrenaline kept me running. I knew people saw me but anyone who followed me were taken off course as I ran down different alleyways. I finally got home and I peeled off my costume. I cried as I took off my jacket. I looked at my stomach, it was a mess. There was a boot print over the top of a long strip where the crowbar had struck me. The only comfort I found in my pain was that I had caused more pain to Red Mist.

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Thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoyed. Tell me what you think. (I stole the line from Mulan or one of the Batman films you can decide which one) :D


	4. Chapter 4

This isn't the most exciting chapter, no action at all. Thank you for reading and to all my reviewers!!

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I sat in my Performance Studies class waiting for the teacher to appear, my stomach seemed to hurt more and more as the day went on even though I was up to my eyeballs in pain killers.

"Did you hear?" I heard a loud whisper behind me from a boy called Brad towards his friend Alex.

"Hear what?"

"About that superhero?"

"The new one on the news?"

"Yeah, she was spotted last night running from something. Apparently she was covered in blood."

I ignored the rest of the conversation. It was true. When I woke up that morning and inspected my costume it was covered in dried blood and I'm pretty sure I found a tooth in the toe of one of my boots. I looked even worse than I thought I would. My face was also coated with blood and I had bruises covering my stomach and back. My arms ached and at some point during my encounter I had twisted my ankle. That was the least of my worries, I was pretty sure I was bleeding internally from the crowbar incident.

I clutched my stomach again and Cam looked at me strangely, "Time of the month." I told her simply.

I promised myself I would take the night off. I would die if I carried on like this. Maybe it would be a good idea to go to the hospital.

The day passed as though I was in a dream. Dave met me and Todd at the gate. I didn't usually walk home with my brother but he was worried about me. He told me I was turning green.

Dave smiled at me sympathetically. I tried to keep up with them but darkness started to impair my vision, "Shit." I whispered as I stumbled and fell to the floor. "Call 911." I whispered to Todd and Dave who were far in front of me.

I don't know when they realised I wasn't behind them anymore but I woke up in the hospital. Drips were attached to me here, there and everywhere. I couldn't move. _I'm paralysed! I'm fucking paralysed! _I started to have a panic attack and could hear the heart monitor beat faster. _I haven't done anything in my life, I haven't gone to uni. I haven't even had sex! _

A male nurse rushed in to find me crying pitifully. "It's ok, Penelope. You're fine, calm down my name is Nurse Peters. Can you hear me?"

I looked at the man, he was hot, but he had just called me Penelope which is a huge mistake. I don't know if it was anger at hearing my Christian name which got me moving or whether I finally had the strength to move but I pulled my arm up and touched my stomach. Almost in the way you see pregnant women do. "It's healing nicely. When you feel a bit stronger we'd like to ask you some questions about that." The man smiled kindly but had worry in his eyes.

I watched the nurse leave. I turned to grab some water but I couldn't reach the jug. I rubbed my eyes to remove the tears and sat back with a sigh. _Paralysed? Douche bag._

I heard noises outside and I closed my eyes. "Is she awake?" My eyes re-opened immediately.

"Todd." I whispered croakily. "Can I have some water, please?"

He laughed and did as I asked while swooping down to hug me, "Dad'll be so happy your ok. He's parking the car now."

"'_Dad _will be?'" I asked sceptically and slightly stronger than before.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm happy you're ok too." He ruffled my hair and I raised my eyebrows at him. He looked sheepish for a moment. "If Dave hadn't realised you had vanished you could be…" He choked slightly and I put my hand on his arm.

"I'm not going anywhere, you can't get rid of me that easy." We both smiled.

"That boyfriend of yours has come to see you everyday. I thought _you _looked bad..." Todd told me pulling up a chair.

"Chris?" The heart monitor made a weird beep and Todd laughed at me. I added, "Wait, how long have I been in here?"

"Um, four days." He counted on his fingers, "No, five. It's Tuesday now."

"Tuesday?" I whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah they had to operate and everything, you then reacted badly to the aesthetic and wouldn't wake up. Then you kinda died. You came back to life, obviously." Any sorrow he had felt was gone, "_And_ you caught an infection. They had to rebuild the front of your stomach. It's pretty cool really."

"Hmm, cool." I repeated.

My dad ran into the room and smiled with both joy and disbelief in his face. "Penny." He held me in a bear hug and kissed my forehead. "Thank God."

Before I knew it Chris and his bodyguard were at the door. I guessed it must be visitors hour. "Hey." He breathed.

I gasped. His eye was bruised, his lip had a scab on it and he wasn't walking very comfortably. "Chris what the hell happened to you?" I stop caring about how bad I felt and focused on him.

He smiled, "I could ask you the same question."

My dad turned to me, "Do you want something to eat?" One thing I loved about him, he knew when to leave any situation and he always got the hint.

"Am I allowed to eat?"

"I'll go ask, come on Todd."

Todd stood up and eyed up Chris with a smirk on his face. They both left and Chris's bodyguard stood outside the room. Chris sat when Todd had been.

"What happened?" I looked at his hands taking them in mine and staring at the scabs.

"I was beaten up the other day. No big deal. Luckily Bret was around to sort them out." Chris looked so happy in that moment, and the bloody heart monitor wasn't helping the situation. Every time I looked at the boy it would leap and I would blush.

I looked at the huge bodyguard, "His names Bret?"

"I know, right. Doesn't suit but he gets the job done."

"Well, obviously not very well if you got beaten up this badly." I couldn't believe how worried I was about Chris.

"Penny, I'm fine, it wasn't his fault. To tell the truth I'm more worried about you." He did a very good job of changing the subject. His sympathy was just more endearing.

"Oh, well, um. After school on Wednesday I got attacked by a bunch of guys. I don't remember who they were but one had a crowbar or something and I felt the full force of it. Luckily, that new superhero was around, she saved me." I shifted uncomfortably.

"Which one?" Chris looked panicked suddenly.

"Um, I think she said "The Purple Eradicator."" I wanted to laugh but thought it might give me away.

Chris looked perplexed but took my hand. "That night, you didn't seem to be in any pain."

"I wasn't in too much pain then, I was on loads of painkillers and I'm a good actress. That's why I had to run home so quickly." I laughed a little bit and made a mental note never to laugh again as a shooting pain flew threw my body.

"Oh, you were acting the whole time?" Chris asked sitting back.

"No, that's not what I meant at all." The heart monitor raced as I panicked, "I was acting as though I wasn't in any pain. I wasn't acting the rest of the time." I wanted to kiss him so badly but I was so nervous I couldn't.

He leaned in closer towards my face and his laps touched mine softly. I smiled and reached to pull him back down as he moved back. I kissed him with more force and I heard a soft, "Ow."

"Shit, sorry." I blushed badly as I realised wasn't best to snog a boy with a split lip. Chris smiled widely and intertwined his hand with mine.

The heart monitor was going so fast now that the nurse returned to the room. He laughed and told Chris to leave before he gave me a heart attack. Chris kissed me softly again before he left with his bodyguard. I was actually quite surprised that he left. Chris was the most powerful teenager in New York maybe even the world and he took orders from a nurse?

I pressed the button for more morphine. I hadn't told him how much pain I was in.

Todd and dad returned and Todd laughed, "That's the first time he's not come in with a pillow."

I drifted off while contemplating why Chris would need a cushion.

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Thank you for reading, don't expect every chapter to be updated so quickly, I'm trying as hard as I can. Tell me what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

Here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy.

I just want to say if anybody wishes to they can follow me on twitter, search Splish98 and I'll follow you too!

WOW! I'm being bombarded with reviews! Keep up the good work people, I love each and every one of you! (So does Penny I can't speak for the rest of them really but I'm sure they love you too.)

* * *

After a few days I was told I was allowed to go home. My stomach was healing nicely and I was told to rest for a few days before I went back to school.

Finally "The Purple Eradicator" was named after I gave my statement to the hospital, then the police. She was on the news again, I watched in awe as a picture of me came up on the screen, covered in blood and clutching my stomach, as my alter ego. A male anchorman spoke, "Finally, the masked crusader who has been saving little old ladies and more recently a seventeen year old girl has been named. Her name is "The Purple Eradicator." Unfortunately, we could not get in contact with her…"

I returned home after two weeks in hospital. My room was exactly how I left it. I had worried that my dad had been in and rearranged my stuff, he told me he had given it a tidy (never a good thing in my household) but obviously not.

I led in my bed and sighed. I wasn't in too much pain, I was on too many pain killers to feel anything to be honest, but everything was exhausting. My dad walked in and turned on the TV at the same time as handing me a cup of tea.

I looked at him slightly puzzled, "I know I usually don't give in to your tea demands but this is a special occasion. I've only just got my baby back." He embraced me quickly.

Unfortunately, when I came to America my dad decided I needed to leave my English stereotypes behind and gain new American ones. For example, coffee. Although I drank it in England he decided I didn't drink it enough. Baseball, this was harder for him to get me to like because one, it's very hard to understand and two, I hate sports.

You get the idea.

He passed me the remote or "the zapper" as it's more affectionately known and left me in peace. I settled on an old episode of Scrubs. I sighed and made myself comfortable. As soon as I did I heard my phone vibrate beside me and I had to reach to get it.

It was a text from Chris, "U back yet? xxx" He asked simply but it still made my heart leap.

"Only just. Xxx" I replied gripping my phone tightly hoping for a quick reply.

As it was it took him half an hour to reply, "Cool. xxx" Why on earth had I bothered? Boys are so infuriating. I threw my phone to the end of my bed and zoned out watching Scrubs.

The phone vibrated again and so I used my legs to get it. I had originally reached to get it but I worried I would snap the remaining stitches. "U wanna cum 2 myn 2moz 4 dinner? Tb xxx" Once I deciphered the text I was overjoyed.

"Yeah, that would be great. xxx" I didn't do text talk.

He offered me a lift to his house and I gave him directions to mine.

I heard the doorbell go but I was engrossed in a fantasy romantic moment between me and Chris.

"Hey." I heard Dave's soft voice before I heard Todd's.

"Hi." I replied slightly confused.

"Here." Todd handed me a collection of his comics and I smiled thankfully. "Dave wanted to come see how you were."

I raised one eyebrow, surly it was weird that my brothers friend was coming to see how _I _was, "Just Dave?"

"The others would have come, but Katie had stuff to do and Marty was spending some time with his girlfriend." Todd made a disgruntled face.

It was strange for Dave to go anywhere without Katie. We had even come to refer to them as "Datie."

"Oh, alright. Um, thanks." I smiled at Dave. The boy nodded and walked into the room. Todd looked as confused as I felt.

"So, er, how are things with you and Chris?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, they're good thanks. How are you and Katie?"

"Oh, fine. Are you serious about him?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"Has he told you how he feels about you?"

"What's all this interest in me and Chris?" I asked slightly irritated. Dave sighed and looked at me.

There was obviously something in my face or the way I looked, which I will add I looked awful, but he backed down.

"Sorry, I feel overprotective of you. You're like a sister to me." He smiled and left me and Todd staring at each other slightly bemused.

The next day was difficult. Getting ready to go to Chris's house was horrible. Firstly, because I could hardly move because of the amount of pain I was in and secondly, because I was so damn nervous. I wondered if I would be meeting Chris's mum and hoped to God that I wouldn't be.

Bret, Chris's bodyguard, came to the door closely followed by my boyfriend. My dad answered the door before I could get there, "Penny!" He bellowed.

I walked down the stairs very slowly, careful not to jar my stomach. Chris's mouth fell open at the sight of me but he composed himself quickly. I didn't think I looked any better than usual although I was wearing a dress which was unusual for me.

"See ya later, dad." I said turning to my father and hugging him quickly.

"Be careful." I heard him call as I entered the limo at the end of our drive.

The ride to the house was quiet, I think Chris was as nervous as I was, "How are you feeling?" He asked taking my hand.

"Alright." I breathed.

I got a strange feeling that we were being followed. I didn't voice it to Chris.

We arrived and Bret opened the door for both me and Chris. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer size of Chris's house. I was expecting something flashy but not a whole skyscraper. He took my hand and led me in. We had to get an elevator to his kitchen, my mind wondered to how on earth one would get into his bedroom and shook my head. Now was not the time for those sort of thoughts.

He squeezed my hand as the doors opened, there were four large men keeping watch and they stood to attention as Chris came into view. We walked through the corridor and we could hear singing and I could smell pizza. _Oh shit. _I suddenly felt sick. I didn't want to meet Mrs D'Amico yet.

"Chris?" I heard his mothers voice and I felt faint.

"Yeah, mom." Chris replied as we walked into the kitchen.

"Oh," She turned to me and smiled, faking surprise. "hi. You must be Penny? I'm Angie." She told me kindly. She shook my hand and Chris looked worried. He suddenly grabbed a chair and sat me down.

"Sorry… I, er, hi." I breathed. I felt darkness start to cover my vision.

The next thing I knew I was led in my bed with twelve texts from Chris.

_Shit, I passed out. _I felt my stomach, it seemed to be fine. I looked out of my window, it was pitch black outside. "Hey honey." I heard my dad. "Too much too fast I think." He was standing at my doorway with a cup of soup. "Why don't you go back to sleep? The doctor said you're fine, your body just needs more rest. Chris keeps phoning you, you should give him a call. He sounded really worried, his mum even more."

He left and I looked at my texts, each one becoming more hysterical. I couldn't be bothered to reply. I had humiliated myself. I needed to get out of the house I didn't care what the doctor said.

I changed into my costume, I wasn't going to fight anyone, I just wanted to feel free again. Go and sit on a rooftop and think. I climbed out of my window, it wasn't as painful as I had expected. I carried on into the night and found a flat roof with a fire escape leading up to it. I climbed and sat on the edge of the roof like a gargoyle. I sighed, the night had not gone to plan.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Asked a high voice mischievously.

I turned to see a small figure. "What do you mean?" I replied.

"Well why aren't you down there fucking bad guys up?" The figure walked towards me and I could see it was a little girl around the age of twelve.

"Um, well, I'm not feeling too good tonight so I'm just watching over the city." I told her unconvincingly.

"Yeah, right." And I think I heard her whisper "Pussy."

"What are you doing up here?" I asked her slightly bemused, eleven year olds weren't supposed to know those kind of words yet, surely.

"I came to visit you." The girl walked closer to me and I started to recognise her. "I haven't had many people to talk to since Kick Ass retired and my daddy died."

"You're that girl who saved Kick Ass and the guy who looked like Batman right?" I asked softly. She nodded sadly. "You were so awesome, you're the reason I became "The Purple Eradicator."" I stared in awe of her.

"Thanks. Now can we get out of this shit hole and go kick some ass?" She asked.

I scrambled to my feet and followed her further into New York. We saw a man holding a woman by the hair a knife held at her throat. The girl ran at the man and threw a butterfly knife into his skull without a second thought. She was like a ninja or a demon from the depths of hell. I wasn't sure which one I would prefer to be honest.

"Who are you?" I asked the girl as I watched the woman ran away.

"Hit Girl." She said with pride. She turned from me with a look of surprise on her face. I think she had just recieved a text. "Whoops. Gotta go. See ya."

"Wait!" I walked after her, I needed to sit down. "We should do this again, when I feel better."

"Well I'm supposed to be retired but… sure." The girl then vanished.

I sighed and made my way back to house, I didn't need any more excitement. I climbed into my room without looking into it, I didn't notice the figure waiting for me…

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Oh cliffhanger! Hope you enjoyed. I know it wasn't the best chapter but it will get better again I promise. Tell me what you think you wonderful people!


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I left you hanging, here it is!**

"What the fuck?"

"Shit." My brain wasn't functioning fast enough.

"I should have known."

Finally something clicked, "What the fuck are you on about? Where's Penny?" I used my batman impression and angered myself.

"Penny, please there's no point lying to me." Dave shook his head sadly. He wistfully added, "How else would you be the only one to talk to-"

"Shut the fuck up! I have no idea what you're on about." I started panicking.

"Yeah I do." He replied quietly.

I had to sit down and pain ran through my body. I clutched my stomach and a tear ran down my face. I couldn't pretend anymore. I sat on the bed. "Penny, what are you doing?" He asked sympathetically, I guessed he meant the superhero stuff not my sitting and crying on the bed.

"Please, don't-"

"I won't say anything. Here let me help you." I looked at him uncertainly, after I decided he had only good intention I undid my jacket. He pulled it off me and I whimpered. I undid my bullet proof jacket and again he pulled it off. I had kept my shirt on from earlier, luckily. He pulled off my boots and neither of us mentioned my trousers. I handed him my mask and he dumped it all in my wardrobe. He got me water and my pain killers. Neither of us talked during the whole exercise.

I climbed under my covers and fell asleep with Dave at the end of my bed.

When I woke up Dave was gone and I had even more texts from Chris than before. I changed into pyjamas before I walked downstairs, my dad didn't need to see my leather trousers. Although I had taken these precautions, the house was empty. "Me and Todd have gone out for a bit see you later, don't do too much." Said a note on the kitchen counter.

I looked at the clock, it said it was 3 pm. _I slept through the whole day? Jesus Christ._

I grabbed something to eat and drink and had painkillers. I decided I should probably phone Chris, tell him I was ok.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Chris."

"Penny." He breathed.

"How are you?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that?"

"Well you sounded pretty worried in your many texts."

"You just got up?"

"Yeah, after waking up from passing out, I fell asleep again, and here we are."

"…Sorry about springing meeting my mom on you."

"I wasn't feeling too good anyway."

There was silence for what seemed an eternity. "I'm gonna have to go." Chris said sadly.

"Ok, do you wanna meet up sometime soon?"

"Yeah," He suddenly perked up, "when?"

"I think we should play it by ear, so we don't have a replay of last night. I'll text you."

"Ok, speak to you soon." The line went dead.

I suddenly realised as I started up the stairs back to my room that _Dave _had been in _my _room the night before. Why the hell was he there?

I decided I needed to talk to him. I started my PC and watched it upload while eating cereal. I recently made a "myspace" page for The Purple Eradicator. First of all it was just to see how many people would follow her but it became a very useful tool. I was used to prowling the streets but having problems set out on the screen in front of me was much easier.

I opened my phone and texted Dave, "Why were you waiting for me?"

I waited while playing around on the internet. "We should meet up. Friday, 10 pm, alleyway by comic book store. Come prepared." Was his reply. I got the message, go as _her._

Over the next few days leading up to Friday I trained myself back up. It started off as gentle exercise but I wanted to speed the process up so I pushed myself to the limit. I felt ready to face anything on Friday and started to get prepared for my meting with Dave.

I changed into my costume and opened my bedroom door slightly. I could hear "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" on the telly so I knew I had a few hours before anyone noticed I was gone. Just so you know I've only watched "TGTBATU" once, but the theme tune is kinda legendary.

I climbed down the side of the house as usual and made my way to the store. Luckily, since Kick Ass there had been hardly any muggings in the car park I had to walk through. It was the same car park where Dave had been found naked.

I stood by the shop and waited. I was early. My stomach was better by now and the doctor told me I could return to school. That in my mind meant that I had the green light and go fight crime.

I let thoughts of Chris help me pass the time. I was being an idiot I needed to phone him. _I should tell him how I feel. How _do_ I feel? Right now, like an idiot._

My train of thought was stopped as a figure walked towards me. He was around Dave's height but had a bald head. Only when he walked into the street light's glare did I realise that it was a costume and more importantly, it was Kick Ass. It was the first and only time I would ever think _Oh my God it's a gaint walking condom._

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Dave asked me to warn you about Chris and Red Mist."

"Dave did?" I asked sceptically, "Why can't he let this Chris thing go? What's Red Mist got to do with this?"

"Yes. He's trying to protect you. Red Mist and Chris are a very closely related subject."

"What?"

"They're the same person."

"_Fuck _off!" I cried half laughing.

"It's true!"

"Like fuck it is."

"Please, Penny." Kick Ass pleaded sounding an awful lot like…

"Dave?" I gasped, "You have got to be kidding me!" I pulled off his mask and stared at his face. I realised this would be the part when I should have kissed him, if we were dating that is.

"Yes, it's me." He looked angry so I handed him back his mask, as I did I noticed some hair fall out. _Whoops._

There were a few seconds of silence. "Why did you come as Kick Ass?"

"I stupidly thought you might listen to him."

I suddenly remembered why we were there. "Why the fuck were you waiting for me in my room the other night?"

He sighed and looked at the floor, "I'm sorry about that, I was trying to warn you about Chris and I didn't want Todd to know I wanted to talk to you. Don't want him to get the wrong idea. I climbed up the wall to your room and when I got in I panicked when you weren't there. So I stayed where I was. You didn't look good when you came in so I let it drop for a while. Please, stop seeing him you're just going to get hurt." I half expected the boy to drop to his knees in prayer.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked but before he answered there was a noise behind him, we both jumped but he didn't look very worried.

"I invited some help." He murmured. A small figure came out of the shadows.

"Hey, Purple Eradicator."

"Hey, Hit Girl."

"You know each other?"

"Yeah." Me and Hit Girl said at once in a "of course" kind of way.

"This should be easier than I thought." He muttered.

"Get rid of your boyfriend. If Kick Ass thinks he's a douche, then he's a _major_ douche."

"Wow, you trust my judgement?"

"Why else would I be here?" She replied quietly. I was just glad the focus was off of me.

"Come on, I want to show you something." Kick Ass told me.

We ran through the darkness. After a while I started to become paranoid. I stopped recognising the streets we ran down. The darkness seemed everlasting. Suddenly Kick Ass stopped and looked into a large, well lit, car park. Red Mist was sat on his car with about four of his cronies stood near.

"What the fuck?"

"I invited him to come here as a "trap" for Kick Ass." Dave told me.

"Now you've gone too far."

"Please, if you don't believe me then you can kick his ass if I'm right then you won't need to lie to each other."

_No because he would have fucked up my insides and that would be the end of us. _I was apprehensive to be honest. What if it was Chris? My feelings for him had grown but I wasn't sure that I could stay with him if he turned out to be Red Mist.

_It's not as though you're married._

_True._

_And it's not as though you love him or anything._

…

_It won't be him._

"Let's do this." I told the two people around me and I stood up. Hit Girl chuckled darkly.

We walked down a long ledge and I heard someone whistle as though to an animal. The cronies jumped up and protected their leader. I stayed in the shadows and glared at Red Mist. I breathed in deeply. Hit girl jumped onto a raised ledge, Kick Ass stood in one of the exits, I moved to stand in the other.

"Red Mist."

"Kick Ass, Hit Girl _and _The Purple Erection?"

"It's Eradicator douche bag."

"Oh somebody's in a bad mood tonight. Is it your "time of the month?"" Red Mist and he crew laughed, I growled.

He turned his attention to Kick Ass, who was shaking his head violently at me, and Hit Girl, "I thought you two were retired."

"We decided it was time to rid the world of you." Kick Ass replied.

Hit Girl jumped down from the ledge and pulled out a long stick with a dagger on each end. Kick Ass pulled out his two batons. I stood un-armed and let the worry pass over me quickly.

We moved forward as a strong force. Hit Girl decided she wanted to be greedy and take out two guys. I flipped forward and hit one guy in the face I then used him like a hobby horse to flip over and kick the back of his legs much like I had with Red Mist the day I had the crowbar to the stomach. This time I punched the base of the mans skull, I wanted to knock him out but I heard his neck snap and pop at the same time and he fell face forward into the floor. His eyes wide and unfocused like marbles.

I had never killed anyone before and I suddenly felt dirty. I stared at the body and I wanted to puke. Everything seemed to slow down as I stared at the cold unforgiving eyes of my prey. Hit Girl laughed sadistically. She brought me back to reality.

Kick Ass had Red Mist cornered, I ran to help. Hit Girl was enjoying herself, she had killed two guys and the final man was on his last legs. I didn't remember seeing her kill anyone but both guys were led in pools of their own blood.

Red Mist was covered in shadow and I could hear him gasp for breath. Kick Ass let go slightly and Red Mist kicked him in the crotch. Both came into the light as Kick Ass let out a terrible groan. I kicked Red Mist in the stomach and he fell on his ass with an "oomph." I stood over him and kicked his cheek and under his chin making his helmet flap go up. He cried out and ended up led on his back on the floor. I snarled and leaned towards him. He dropped his hands from his face.

"No." I whispered not thinking about what the person below me would do.

Confusion passed his face and he kicked me in the fanny. I cried out and fell to the floor, tears filling my eyes. Partly from the intense pain coursing 'round my body and partly because well… The boy I loved was my arch enemy.

He kicked my side, I knew he did it but now everything was numb, he punched me in the face and then raised a baton as though to bring it down on my head. I heard my name somewhere far away and I awoke. I swept my foot under _his _feet and he fell with a crash. I saw Kick Ass run to my aid but I was already up and running.

I didn't want to fight. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry or die, didn't matter anymore. I heard someone come after me but I didn't stop. I didn't even care if Kick Ass and Hit Girl were in trouble.

Dave was right. It wasn't fair. Dave was _always _right. He hadn't spoken to me properly for eight years and suddenly he was warning me about my boyfriend and he was right.

Chris was the tosser I had refused to hang around with and the man I loved. Shit.

**Hope you enjoyed, tell me what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**There isn't any action in this chapter, just thought I'd warn you. Hope you don't get too depressed.**

I woke up, my head throbbed, my feet and groin hurt. I touched my face and found tear tracks on my cheeks. The covers fell from my shoulders as I sat up, dazed. Somehow I had managed to take off both of my jackets and my mask but the rest of the costume clung to me.

I led back down and stared at the ceiling. Last night felt like a dream in fact the last few _weeks_ seemed like a dream.

_Chris…_

Tears stung my eyes once again as the blur, that was the night before, started to clear. I placed my duvet over my head as I started to sob.

_Why did Dave have to tell me? Why couldn't he let me be ignorant and happy? _

_You would have found out soon enough._

_I would have had some more time with Chris, it would have meant the world._

I heard a soft knocking on my door and I said "Come in." Without removing my covers.

"Hey." It was Todd, "I was wondering. Do you wanna come to the comic book store? You've been cooped up here for too long." He sat on the edge of my bed.

"Is dad here?" I replied slightly muffled and in between my gasps for air.

"Um, no. He's at work. He'll be back soon though." He told me.

I sighed and pulled the covers down slightly letting him see my face. Todd gasped. "What the fuck happened to you?"

I wondered what he was on about and then I touched my eye. "Oh, I went for a jog this morning. I wasn't looking where I was going and went into a large branch." It worried me how easily I could lie to him.

"Have you been crying?"

I _had_ composed myself but his question started me off again. "Shit, what's wrong?" He wasn't used to me crying, in fact he wasn't used to tears in general. He patted my shoulder.

I couldn't reply, "Is it Chris?" He asked.

I nodded, "Did he dump you?" I shook my head.

"Is he dead?" He asked worried, I half laughed.

"No." I managed to reply.

"What is it then?"

I looked away from him. "I'll come with you Todd, but please don't talk about him, ok?"

Todd nodded and left the room, "I'm leaving in an hour." He yelled from the stairs.

I peeled off my costume. There were bruises on my stomach, ass and fanny. I managed to shower. The night before was still blurry, it was like my brain was trying to protect me from something.

I stuck on clothes that seemed clean and I put my costume in the wash, I wouldn't need it until later on. I proceeded to put on some foundation to make the black eye less noticeable, it didn't work very well but it made me feel less paranoid.

I wolfed down a bowl of cereal while staring at the telly. "Lets go." I murmured through my full mouth.

Todd nodded uncertainly.

I took a back pack and stuck make-up remover, a toothbrush and toothpaste in it. I got the feeling I was going to be sick so I thought I'd go prepared.

We entered the shop in silence, the walk to the shop had been as quiet. I noticed "Datie" and Marty. I raised my eyebrow at Todd, "They split up." He whispered nodding at Marty. He actually looked pretty pleased about it, Todd not Marty.

Dave smiled at me sympathetically. There was a part of me that really wanted to punch him. I turned to the comics and sighed. I flicked through and found one superhero called "Cinnamon." She was a kind of bad ass cowgirl.

"Hey." I recognised Dave's soft voice. "How you holding up?"

I just looked at him. "So what's the story with the eye then?"

"I went jogging and went into a branch." I told him in a monotone voice.

He sighed, "Well, you're holding up better than I expected." I raised my eyebrows and he carried on, "I mean I wouldn't leave the house for days after my first DB."

_DB? Doesn't that mean… Oh my god. _The memory came flooding back. The cold unforgiving eyes, the pop as his head detached itself from his spine.

The acid in my stomach rose and I knew I was gonna vomit. I ran to the toilets just in time. I puked in the bowl and locked myself in the cubicle. _What have I done?_

"Penny?" I heard Katie's voice over my loud sobs.

_Leave me alone. _I groaned in my head.

"Penny, open the door." Katie said after testing the cubicle door.

I vomited again. The world was crashing down around me and I didn't know how to stop it.

"I'm not leaving." Katie said stubbornly.

I put my head in my hands and let the tears flow. "Penny? You ok in there?" Katie now sounded worried.

I let out another sob at the same time as saying "No."

I opened the door but kept my back to Katie. She sighed when she saw me. "Dave told me what happened. I'm sorry it's all so… shit."

I let out another sob. There was also a part of me that later would grow angry at Dave for telling Katie about my secret identity.

"Both Chris and _this_." She said, I could tell she wasn't sure what to say to me. I puked again.

"He's really worried about you, Dave is. That's why he sent me in." I got the feeling she wasn't talking to me anymore.

"I've never seen him so upset that someone is hurting. Neither will he go back to being Kick Ass for just anyone." There was a sadness and anger in her voice.

_Get some perspective, Katie. I've murdered someone and you're talking about Dave being worried about me? _I didn't have the energy or courage to say it out loud.

_Bloody hell, _I suddenly realised, _I've become my mother._ I let out a loud everlasting sob with another bout of vomiting in between gasps.

I heard the bathroom door open and Todd closely followed by Dave come in. "Penny?" My big brothers voice just caused me more upset. He walked into the cubicle and held me. "Have you been sick?" He asked quietly. I wanted to stop crying and stop pretending, to tell him everything but it was out of the question. "Penny, are you pregnant?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed, in the midst of all this sadness and hysteria my brother's innocence and naivety made me laugh, made me see past all of it and made me love him just a little bit more.

"No, Toddie." I snuggled into his chest, tears still streaming down my cheeks, he smelt like our house.

"Wow you haven't called me that in a while." He smiled and squeezed me. I was still sniffling and he didn't ask me why, I was thankful for it.

When I got the energy to sit up on my own I realised my running foundation had got all over his shoulder and chest. "Don't worry, I'll make up some bullshit." He laughed.

I hadn't noticed Katie had gone. Dave was still stood staring at me sympathetically. I hadn't realised 'till that moment that my rucksack was still on my back. I pulled out my makeup remover, I wiped my face revealing the true colour of my bruised eye and I pulled out the toothbrush and toothpaste.

A woman walked in to the loos and stared at me, Dave and Todd, the later two left with sheepish looks on their faces.

"Is everything alright?" The woman asked me worriedly.

I nodded, "Yeah, don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, that's my brother and his friend, I've been sick and they were checking up on me." I didn't know why I felt I had to explain to her but I wondered whether she would phone the cops.

She was probably right to think that something horrible had gone down. I had a black eye, it was obvious I'd been crying, I was brushing my teeth, there was foundation on Todd's chest and both boys had been stood at the cubicle door looking suspicious.

I left the bathroom after putting my toothbrush back in my bag. I returned to the comics after noticing that Katie was gone. Dave stood near me. "Shouldn't you go find Katie? She seemed pretty annoyed when she was talking to me."

"She'll be fine."

"Fine if you want her to be your ex." There was silence. "You do?"

"No, I-I don't know. I mean she's always on my case about you-know-who and she doesn't understand that you need protecting."

"I can handle myself."

Before Dave could reply the door to the store opened and he looked up in disgust at the person who entered. I didn't need to turn around, I could smell Chris's deodorant that made both my heart leap and more recently my stomach churn.

"Hey baby." He said quietly behind me. Dave moved away to sit down with Todd who was staring at Chris not sure whether or not to hate him yet.

I took a deep breath and turned to look at him, "Hey." Chris let out a gasp.

"What the fuck happened to you this time?"

"Jogging… branch… no big deal." I managed to mumble. He was so gorgeous and I wanted to throw him to the floor and do him right in front of all these people.

"Well," He moved some hairs from in front of my eyes, "it does make your eyes look even more stunning." He laughed nervously, it was obvious he had no idea what to say to me. Whatever he was trying to do it was working, I was like putty in his hands.

He moved in closer to kiss me but I finally remembered who he was. "No, Chris, please. We have to talk." I stepped back before he could kiss me and I couldn't go through with the break up.

"Oh, ok." I knew, he knew what that meant. I pulled him out of the store away from staring eyes and familiar faces.

"I'm so sorry Chris, but we have to end this." I said it almost as soon as we were out of the door hoping it would be like taking off a plaster.

"We do?" He replied quietly.

"I'm so sorry I just don't have feelings for you. I think of you as a friend." Utter shit but it seemed the easiest option.

"You don't have feelings for me?" He more stated than asked. I nodded, a lump was in my throat.

He moved forward and before I could react I was in the middle of the most passionate and amazing kiss I had ever had. His lips and mine moved in sync and our tongues touched which sent a shiver of excitement down my spine. I faintly heard someone shout "Get a room!" From across the road but I didn't care. My hands were in his hair and I wanted to take in every part of him before we departed.

He stopped the kiss, "That was not the kiss of someone who has no feelings for me." He looked victorious but I wouldn't back down.

"I'm sorry I just can't do it." I removed my hands from his hair and started to walk away tears, stinging my eyes.

"Stop, please, Penny." He held my arm looking desperate. "Tell me the truth."

"Chris, I-I love you but I know who and what you are. I can't love someone as corrupt as you. It breaks my heart to leave you but I must." I turned from him tears streaming down my face. "I love you." I whispered again as I walked away.

I heard the store door open and footsteps running after me. "Penny!" I heard Todd cry out.

I don't really remember how I got home but I remember my dad's face as I entered the house.

I wanted my mum to sit by me and say she knew exactly how I felt but it was too late for me to even call her. I remembered my mum's voice and her favourite saying whenever something bad happened; "Penny, dear, 'life's a bitch and then you die.'" However much it annoyed me I knew it was the truth.

**Chris:**

I sat on my bed for hours replaying our break up. I turned off my phone, locked myself in my room and let the tears flow. I didn't normally cry but she was different to anyone else I'd ever known. Her eye's would haunt me for the rest of my life, I just knew it. Those beautiful green/blue sparkling eyes that had so much untapped passion in them.

_Get a grip man, you're Red Mist, the toughest villain around! She said she knew who I was, what I was. Did that bitch tell her? Or Kick Ass, maybe even Hit Girl. I am going to murder them. It had to be The Purple Erection Penny trusts her. That fucking bitch will pay for making me loose the best thing that happened to me. I will get you back, Penny._

I sat alone in my room, these angry thoughts parading around my brain knowing it was either The Purple Eradicator or me this time.

**I know there wasn't any action but I'm hoping there'll be lots next chapter. Thanks for reading, I hope I didn't make you too depressed and tell me what you think. Love you all. xxx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Not all will be uploaded this quickly. :D I hope you enjoy!**

I woke up the next day with no recollection of what happened the day before, after I broke up with Chris I mean. I looked in my wardrobe and found my costume in it's usual place hung up, clean and dry. The house was tidy, it had to be me because dad could never be bothered to tidy up after work and Todd would have never done this good a job. I found DVD's all over the floor of the living room, they had to be mine because they were "chick flicks" and a couple of Disney films too.

I had done this once before, when my mum had gone into prison and I had just moved to my dad's house. The first few days I lived there I don't really remember because I was so distraught I did exactly the same thing. I tidied the house, watched films, I even read books and terrified my dad and Todd.

Todd was trying to put some of the DVD's away, in the already full DVD cabinet, when he turned around and saw me. "Hey, how you feeling?"

I ignored the question, "How bad was I?"

"Not as bad as last time, your eyes are focusing already." He smiled warmly at me. "The house hasn't looked this tidy since then."

I sat on the sofa and sighed. "Dave came to see you this morning." Todd told me wistfully.

"Why?"

"He said he was worried. I think he's got a crush on you." Todd told me sceptically.

I groaned. "Don't say that."

He laughed nervously. "Do you think you'll be going back to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, why not." I replied huffily leaning my head back to look at the ceiling. "I dusted the ceiling?"

"Vacuumed it actually. Used three chairs, almost gave dad a heart attack." Todd replied laughing.

I considered staying in that night, just doing nothing but as always I needed to get out and kick some bad guy ass. I went on to _her_ myspace page and let it load. The inbox was full. I opened it and cracked my fingers, "Here we go." I muttered. Most of the mail was from different fans but eventually I found ones from both Kick Ass and Red Mist. I ignored Red Mist's emails at first and clicked on Kick Ass's.

Most of them were apologies but the last was asking whether we could meet up that night. I replied to the message, "Give me a time and place and I'll be there. T.P.E"

I wasn't expecting a reply any time soon so I clicked on Red Mist's most recent one. "You ruined my life bitch. You will pay for that. R.M"

Tears stung my eyes but I didn't let them fall.

I read backwards from there, most of them were of the same sentiment. A new message popped up telling me when and where to meet Kick Ass.

That night I changed and climbed down the drainpipe, as usual. It felt good to be free of the house, away from dad and Todd's worried, sympathetic eyes. I arrived at the meeting spot and waited, looking over the rooftops like a gargoyle warning away evil.

Hit Girl appeared first, "Chris D'Amico?" I looked up at her, she suddenly looked very intimidating, "Chris, fucking D'Amico?" Her voice was becoming higher and higher pitched. "That's the guy you are dating, Red fucking Mist?"

"No, I-I didn't know he-"

"Of course you didn't, Kick Ass was right you are an idiotic bitch."

"Excuse me?" Now, I was furious. "How dare you?" I started walking towards her, if we had been in a cartoon my ears would have had steam coming out of them. "I didn't know Chris was Red Mist, I didn't think he was bad enough to be Red Mist. I dumped him as soon as I saw him yesterday, after finding out about him. Don't go calling me an idiotic bitch, pipsqueak because otherwise I'll have to break your neck."

I don't really know what had brought on this verbally violent side of me, or the thought that I could break Hit Girl's neck because, come on I was more likely to be killed by _her_.

Hit Girl stood frozen to the spot glaring up at me. "You think you could beat me?" There was something in her voice that was unsure.

"I think I have a good shot."

"Bring it." She taunted, becoming the Hit Girl I saw beating up bad guys.

I kneed her in the stomach and I felt a foot kick my legs, I thanked God I was heavier than the little girl. I proceeded to punch her in the face. Hit Girl didn't even cry out. She retorted with a spinning jump and a foot in my face. I heard a crack as she hit my nose, the sound seemed to go through my whole body. She moved back and I flipped towards her, she rolled towards me so we were in each others original position. She pulled out a butterfly knife, I breathed in and out slowly. She smiled and sent the knife flying, it went into my bullet proof jacket as I flipped away from her. She lost concentration momentarily as she thought she had pierced my gut and I took the chance to run at her and perform a jumping side kick, thanking my mother for making me take the kickboxing lessons. She cried out that time and before I could touch the ground she performed a spinning hook-kick. I fell onto my back heavily. I got to my feet and she kicked me in the face making me fall backto the floor again. She pulled the burtterfly knife out of my jacket and held it to my throat, when we heard Kick Ass.

"Shit! What the fuck are you two doing?" He pushed Hit Girl off of me, "We're all on the same side you shouldn't fight each other." He helped me to my feet, me and Hit Girl stayed staring at each other, waiting for the other to move.

I came out of my defensive stance and so did she. Kick Ass relaxed. "I wanted to go and sort out Red Mist tomorrow and I wanted both of you to agree to a plan. That's why I asked you both here, not for this."

"Why should I trust you?" I turned on Kick Ass.

"What do you mean?" Suddenly he looked worried for his own safety.

"_You_ told _your _girlfriend _my _secret identity." I started to encroach on Kick Ass.

"Well she needed to know so she could understand-"

"_I'm_ not the one ruining _your_ relationship. _You_ told her who _I_ am and what _I_ did. If you break up you've put _me_ in danger. _You _told Hit Girl who _my_ boyfriend was."

"No, I just guessed." Hit Girl interjected smugly. I ignored her.

"You won't leave me alone _and_ you think I'm an _idiotic bitch_." The last bit hurt. I had never thought Dave had liked me that much but it hurt.

Dave opened and closed his mouth, much like a fish. "I never said 'bitch' and that's not in context." I scoffed and he added, "I said you were being idiotic about the whole Chris /Red Mist thing by not listening to me. And, I'm sorry about everything I told Katie, I didn't think about how dangerous it would be for you. I am very sorry." I backed down. "Now, can we get a plan sorted out?"

Hit Girl and I listened to Kick Ass as he told us his plan. We agreed to it and Hit Girl wanted to go right that minute. "It's too late and he's staying in his house tonight. Nothing will bring him out."

I looked at the floor, _It's not 'cos of me. Surely._

Hit Girl rolled her eyes. "Fine." She started to move away.

"Wait!" Dave ran to her and said something quietly. I didn't hear anything they said until she whispered loudly "I won't!" slightly exasperated.

I waited until Dave came back and Hit Girl turned to me, "I've fought worse."

I nodded, "Me too." I knew it was the only apology I would get. I smiled "Sorry for calling you 'pipsqueak'" I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, she nodded. Turning her back and jumping off of the roof.

"She'll never apologise for calling you a bitch."

"I know."

Dave stared at me, "Sorry, for everything." I shrugged. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

I didn't realise how much blood there was on my face until we got inside. "She got my nose pretty bad."

I washed my face and I assumed Dave would have left. "Katie dumped me earlier."

"Oh." I suddenly realised why everyone had acted weirdly the day before, what do you say to that? "Sorry."

"It's alright. I mean there were problems before I started helping you out." He was looking at me strangely. He suddenly changed topic and his voice changed to his usual soft tones, "I'm sorry about Hit Girl."

"It's alright, I needed to let off some steam." I chuckled and noticed how close he had become. We had both taken off our masks and I stared up at him slightly confused.

"I've been wondering, whether or not my protective feelings have been entirely brotherly." He speculated allowed. He moved even closer to me. "And I know that you have had a crush on me for years." He was still talking softly but something was different again, almost forceful in his voice.

I couldn't speak. Even when he lent down to touch my lips with his own I couldn't move. This was what I had wanted for years and now it was happening I wanted it to stop. _Chris._ "No." I said as he lent down again.

"Shit, sorry." He blushed and moved back looking disgusted with himself.

"No, it's just, it's too soon." I needed time to think, to decide what I wanted.

"Of course, I-I'm sorry. I gotta go." He moved towards the window and stuck his mask back on.

"I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Right, yeah." He replied, while climbing down the drainpipe. _Shit. Why'd he have to do that?_

I changed into my pj's and thought about the next night. It was going to be hard but I could do it. I had to.

**Hope you enjoyed, tell me what you think. I think we've got a few more chapters before the end but we're drawing to a close :(**


	9. Chapter 9

The next day I returned to school. Again, I was surrounded by people who wanted to know exactly what happened to me. There were many rumours going around that I had been attacked, raped, mugged, and more that I didn't even bother trying to listen to. Some even thought that Chris had tried to force himself on me and that's why we broke up. I dispelled each rumour but it didn't stop them. The girls who usually hung round me were back, louder than ever. Although I was surrounded no one noticed how swollen my nose was thanks to my eye. If I wasn't careful soon people would think my dad was abusing me.

During that day, I couldn't wait for the evening when I could let off steam, kick some ass and give Chris everything he deserved. But I was worried that I might freeze up and about how me and Dave would be. I saw him in the corridor and he smiled at me but it was the same it was nervous and embarrassed.

Todd was more protective than usual and had taken to escorting me to my lessons.

I saw Katie when walking to my lesson and she smiled at me. She beckoned me over to her, Todd nodded and waited a few yards away, he was like a really scrawny cheap bodyguard, "I guess you heard about me and Dave?" I nodded slowly, "I just wanted you to know that I won't tell anyone anything I know about you." I hugged her, for all I knew this could be my last day on Earth and I weirdly trusted her. She was about the closest thing I had to a best friend. It was sad but true.

"Thank you." I whispered as I let her go.

I walked off quickly to my next lesson closely followed by my brother.

My dad picked me and Todd up after school. He was being extra careful with me. I spent as much time with my family as I possibly could that night. I watched the clock hands move slower and slower. I even made dinner for us and made us sit together as a family.

Once half eight came I knew I had to leave very soon to get to the rendezvous point.

"Is everything ok, hun?" My dad noticed my face change.

"Yeah dad, I think I'm gonna go to bed early. I don't feel to good."

"What is it? Is it your stomach?" He stood up and became quite hysterical, a strange sight to see a big, burly southern American man become hysterical over his daughter going to bed early.

"No dad, it's a headache, I just need to sleep." He sat back down, I was sat next to Todd so I gave him a quick hug, "'Night." Todd was too engrossed in the TV to notice I had just hugged him.

"'Night dad." I hugged my dad and kissed his head, "Love ya." He sighed and smiled. As I walked to the stairs I took one last look at my family, for all I knew it would be the last time.

I entered my room shaking off the tears that were starting to cloud my vision. _You have to be strong. _

I changed and turned off the light into my bedroom, I also stuffed some pillows under the covers just in case, it probably wouldn't make any difference if anyone walked in, they would realise quickly but I was forever hopeful.

I climbed down the drainpipe as usual and into the night. Everything was so still it looked the world was frozen in time. I stopped at a parking lot a few buildings away from the hospital, _Wow, Dave is optimistic about tonight(!)_

I heard someone move towards me, they were too light footed to be Dave or even Chris. "Hit girl."

"Eradicator."

I turned to her with one eyebrow raised, "What? You can't expect me to call you The Purple Eradicator every time I see you." She explained. I shrugged, kind of agreeing. "Are you gonna be a problem tonight?" She asked me not completely unkindly.

"I hope not." I breathed.

We sat in silence. I heard heavier footing beside us. "You ready?" Dave's soft voice asked.

"Always." I turned to him and he was looking past me to Hit Girl. Hit Girl gave me a gun and smiled at me. Dave looked at the ground, "Are _you_ gonna be a problem tonight?" I asked him.

"Why-"

"Last night?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Lets forget it happened tonight, ok?"

He nodded. "I would ask what happened but I might regret it so I won't." Hit Girl said and I laughed.

"I'm really not comfortable with this."

"You know how to use a gun right? You chose the machine gun!" Hit Girl said getting annoyed.

"I know but…"

"It's time for you to live up to your name. Red Mist has to go down tonight and he's going to be armed right up to the teeth." She summed up.

After a long silence I asked, "Why are we doing this?"

"What?" Dave replied.

"Fighting Red Mist." I added.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked.

"Are we fighting him because his empire has grown, to extract some revenge or is it, and I shudder at the thought, some jealousy bug that you have that wants Red Mist's blood?" I didn't ask unkindly but I decided it would be best to be honest.

Kick Ass looked angry and shocked but also a little sheepish and before he could reply we noticed something move in the shadows.

"Where is she?" Came a familiar voice.

"Who?" I replied to him when neither of my team mates did.

"Penny. If any one has hurt a hair on her head I will chop of your genitals."

"Penny? You used _Penny _to get him out here?" I was furious and turned on Kick Ass.

"It was Hit Girl's idea." He whimpered.

"Oh, you'd do well under torture." Hit Girl snarled.

"Where is she, bitch?" Red Mist got closer.

"She's not here." I wanted to reply with some sort of insult but I couldn't bring myself to. "She was never kidnapped by any of us."

"She's safe."

"At home in her bed." I ended the sentence.

"Well, now that's settled, I have a bone to pick with you. How did she find out about me?"

"She guessed, she's cleverer than you think."

Red Mist laughed, "She couldn't have just guessed, you told her."

"It looks like you've already decided so." I noticed both my team mates stand either side of me.

"You've ruined everything. You will pay for that." I could have sworn that I saw a tear fall from his face, but I could have just been seeing things. I stood up straight.

"She meant that much to you?"

"What does it matter? You will pay, bitch."

He ran at me and I jumped out of the way, _Shit, I'm his target tonight, not what I planned._

He noticed the gun in my hand, that I held away from me like a rounders or baseball bat, and pulled out on of his own, _Fuck, no._

He pointed it at me so I dropped to the floor and rolled away, jumping up at the last second, I flipped towards him and punched his stomach. I kicked the gun out of his hand and I slid mine away. I felt as though I had been punched in the chest and I noticed that Red Mist had another gun that was smoking at the tip. Now, I was seething. I kicked it out of his hand, while he looked astonished that I was ok, I then kicked him twice in the face, gently hopping from one foot to the other. I punched him in the stomach, while he was still standing. He fell heavily like a sack of potatoes.

I heard Hit Girl scream and looked up involuntarily. Stupid mistake. I felt my legs vanish from under me and I fell on my ass. Red Mist sat on my stomach and held my hands above my head. I felt like a caged animal, waiting to kill it's capter.

"Get off me! Get off me, Chris!" I stopped as soon as I said his name, there was no point struggling any more, what I was afraid of happening was going to happen, whether I liked it or not.

"No." He whispered. He took one of his hands off of my wrist and touched my face. "Please, God no." He took off my mask and I couldn't contain my tears, they flooded down my face. He let go of both my wrists, I sat up quickly and kissed him for the last time, it was the closest I would ever get to doing him and I wanted it to last forever. He didn't pull back at first and then something clicked in his brain.

"No, no, no!" He screamed the last "no." He was still on top of me and pushed me back to the floor, "Chris, please."

I knew how he felt. "Fucking bitch." He managed to choke out. He pressed down on my arms keeping me pinned down.

I was starting to feel afraid, so I pulled my legs up and pushed him up using my feet and his ass. He flipped off me and I put my mask back on like it would change my perspective of things. He stood in front of me trying to punch me and every time I blocked it. I knew it hurt him as much as it hurt me, maybe even more, his face contorted with every hit but he couldn't stop himself. He yelled in anguish and ran over the rooftops, far away from me.

I was expecting to be upset but all I felt was blind rage.

I looked down at Hit Girl, who was lying on the floor in agony. There was a guy about to stab her and I ran at him followed by kicking him hard in the face. He looked up at me dazed from the floor half of his face was brused and it was obvious I broke his jaw. I stole one of Hit Girl's butterfly knives, while he looked up at me, jumped over him and slit his throat from behind, he crumpled to the ground as a wave of blood fell with him, I watched for a few seconds after the first flow stoped and watched as the arteries kept on working only killing him faster.

I then turned to Kick Ass, who was being pummelled to the ground. "Duck!" I shouted to the boy, I don't know if he heard me or whether it was an attack he was performing, or even him passing out but he fell to the ground. I aimed and watched as the butterfly knife hit Red Mist's crony right between the eyebrows, he fell straight onto his back. I removed it from his head, blood spurted from his wound too, there was the blood of the two men and brain matter from the last staining the blade. Kick Ass looked up at me in shock.

I turned to the little girl and walked to her, she was covered in blood, crying and she looked so little for once. "Y-you finally liv-lived up to your n-n-n-name." She spluttered. I had no idea if anything was still in the wound.

"Shut up, pipsqueak. Let's get you to the hospital." I told her humoursly, trying to keep her calm. I closed the knife, took off her wig, mask, jacket and cape, I removed my jacket and mask too. I picked her up so that she was draped over both my arms. "I got her, Kick Ass, you go tell her guardian that I'm taking her to hospital, I'll met you there." Dave didn't argue. "Hit Girl. What's your real name? The hospital will need to know."

"M-Mindy Macready." She told me breathlessly.

"I'm Penny. Everything will be alright. Tell me about your dad, Mindy." I needed to keep her awake.

"H-he was, Big Daddy. H-he taught me everyth-thing I know..." Her voice was getting quieter.

"Tell me about what he taught you. Stay with me Mindy."

"He-he…"

"Mindy! You have to stay awake to hear the mission brief. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, Penny."

"Good girl. Listen…" _Shit shit shit shit shit!!!!_

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I'm sorry I know I'm rubbish for leaving you on another cliff hanger. The next chapter should be up soonish. If you have time I am curious to know what you think of how Penny's love life should end up at the end of the story, I have a poll on my profile if you could do it then I would much appreciate it.**

**As always I love you and tell me what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Can I just say that my family recently bought a hamster and I managed to convince them to call it Penny. He he he. Hope you enjoy, there's no action I suppose. But I think all your minds need a little rest after the last chapter. **

**(Had to make up a last name for Penny and co. they don't mention one in the film or comic)**

"Help, please, somebody help me!" I only half faked hysteria, Mindy had managed to stay awake until we were almost inside the doors of the hospital. For all I knew she could be dead.

"What's wrong?" A female doctor signalled for a few nurses to bring a bed, I led Mindy down on it. Hardly seeing it because of the fog my tears caused.

"It's all my fault, I should have been watching her." I felt tears create a barrier in my throat.

"What's your name?" A female nurse asked me kindly as Mindy was wheeled away from me.

"Penny Macready, this is my sister Mindy. Please you've got to help her."

"Ok, Penny. Tell me what happened."

"S-she fell-fell on a knife, I turned away for one damn second!" I started crying, it felt good to let it out, I wouldn't allow Mindy to see me cry like this. The nurse sat me down and to tell the truth I don't know what happened after that.

I could hear Mindy scream every now and then but all I saw was darkness, from my hands over my eyes. I heard footsteps and a man whisper, "Mindy." And I felt an arm around my shoulders. I could smell it was Dave.

"Do you want me to call your dad?" He whispered.

I was suddenly very aware that I had left half of mine and Mindy's uniform on the roof of the building we had fought upon. "You have to get my costume, and Mindy's." He said nothing but I knew he wasn't beside me anymore.

"Are you the girl who brought Mindy here?" I heard a voice and looked up at a tall black man in a policeman uniform with tears streaming down his face.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak in case I started to sob loudly.

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully and turned back to the glass window where we could just about see Mindy's feet. She was suddenly rushed out of the room, "What's going on?" The black man asked.

"There's too much damage we need to perform straight away. Are you her guardian?" The same nurse who had talked to me was talking to him.

"Yes, her father died a little while ago." I don't think he even knew why he told the nurse.

"I'll have some paperwork you need to sign why don't you sit with her sister and I'll be with you momentarily."

The man sat down, "I'm sorry I-" I started and he raised his hand.

"I understand, you're in the business too I imagine. _Her _business. I'm just thankful you got her here when you did."

I sighed and sat back. "So what's the story?" He asked.

"To the doctors and whatever I'll say that me and Mindy were at home face painting when she decided she wanted to cut an apple, I turned away for a moment and turned back to find her lying on a knife."

"And to-"

"My dad, I was babysitting her. You asked me last minute so I went without telling them so I didn't disturb them."

"Them?"

"My dad and brother." I suddenly realised how posh I sounded. I hadn't even sounded that posh in England. I had a miserable brummy accent not in the least bit posh and in those moments I sounded like a middle class toff.

"Right, got it."

Dave returned with two carrier bags in his hands. "Here." He said passing one to me and one to Mindy's guardian beside me, "Here you go, Marcus. It's her costume. Where is she?"

"Surgery." Marcus replied.

"I phoned your dad." Dave told me and I nodded slowly. He was going to be furious.

The three of us sat in silence. Dave sat so close to me I could feel him breathing, sometimes even his heart beat.

Eventually, I heard my fathers heavy footsteps, I groaned, _I'm in for it now._

I looked up at him and whatever he was going to stay didn't leave his mouth. "W-why?" Was all he could muster, his face was furious but his words were calm.

"I'm sorry. Mister?" Marcus thrust his handout for my dad to take. It was a strange sight, in amongst all this misery and worry Marcus wanted to introduce himself to my father.

"Conway."

"Mister Conway, it was my fault that Penny sneaked out. I asked her to baby-sit for Mindy last minute. I was asked to go out on patrol last minute ." He said patting the gun in the holder. "She saved my ass and then she saved my little girl. If I hadn't gone maybe…" He trailed off and my dad's face softened.

"I'm sorry about your daughter. I hope she gets better soon." My dad patted the man's shoulder sympathetically and awkwardly. "We better get home, it's been a long night." Little did he know.

"No, I want to stay here. I want to see her." My voice had lost it's middle class English accent it was back to it's Brummy/American accent.

"Penny, you have school tomorrow. I'll bring you back tomorrow. If that's alright with her dad."

"Fine, yes of course." I noticed how Marcus never corrected my dad on his and Mindy's relationship.

_He'll be shocked tomorrow when he realises she's not black. _Was all I could think.I didn't want to push my luck so I agreed to come back the next day.

"Dave," My dad stopped and stared at the boy for a second. I hadn't looked at Dave properly since the start of the fight, he was a complete mess. "um, you wanna lift home?"

Dave nodded and told Marcus he'd visit Mindy tomorrow too. The trip home was filled with excruciating silence. Once dad dropped Dave home he turned to me "Why was he there?"

"I phoned him."

"Why, are you too-"

"No, dad! I phoned him cos I thought you'd be angry and he was nearby so I got him to phone Marcus while I took Mindy to hospital."

"You walked?"

"Um, yeah."

"Why didn't you call 911?"

_Shit, why didn't I? _"I get confused, you know. 999, 911..."

"You've lived here over eight years."

"Yeah well old dogs new tricks and all that…" Tears clogged up my throat.

"Why didn't you tell me you were babysitting?"

"I didn't want to disturb you." My voice took a higher pitch. "I'm so sorry daddy." I hadn't called my dad that in a long time and he left me alone after that. He knew there was something more to it but he couldn't get anything more out of me because I was crying so loudly.

Todd stared at me in disbelief as we came in but left me alone. I bet he figured it was some boy thing.

School passed by so slowly the next day. I was pretty sure every teacher had decided to give us the most boring lessons ever on purpose. I counted every second until I knew that Mindy was alright.

A few days ago I had hated her little guts, now I was acting all motherly and wanted to know she was healthy.

My dad came to pick me and Todd up after school. He dropped Todd off at home and then took me to the hospital. I wasn't expecting him to stay with me. "I want to make sure you're alright."

I nodded. We walked towards Mindy's room and there she was. I had never seen her look so pale and small. Her thick blonde hair was spread across her pillow and a huge grin spread over her face at the sight of me. "Penny." She sighed.

As I predicted my dad looked thoroughly confused.

"Hey pipsqueak." I laughed walking towards her. Her face turned into a pout, "What? You can't expect me to call you Mindy every time I see you." Her smiled returned and we both chuckled nervously at our "in" joke. "How are you feeling?"

"Like death." She replied making my dad confused. I could understand why, she looked so angelic at that moment, I was just thankful she hadn't cussed. One thing my dad hated was swearing. "You?"

"I'm alright, thank you." I sat down and made polite conversation with her until my dad left for a drink and a snack.

"Did you get the story right?"

"I could only remember bits of it. Marcus told me the whole thing. I wanted to say thank you by the way." She paused blushing, "You saved my life."

"If I hadn't Dave would have. And stop being such a pussy." I laughed and so did she. My face became serious for a moment, "You're very welcome. I couldn't let my favourite team mate die."

"We do make quite a good team." She confirmed. For someone who should have been in a lot of pain she was quite animated.

I had realised while trying to sleep the night before, that even though I had done all that training and had that brown belt in kickboxing, it would be no use if guns and violence were involved in my next fight. I had been lucky that the first time weapons were introduced was the night before. I needed to resort to something that could have jepordised Mindy and Marcus's relationship.

"I was wondering," I looked at Marcus then back at Mindy, "last night when you gave me the, er…"

"Gun."

"Mindy!" Marcus exclaimed. "You didn't?" He did not look impressed and I blushed.

"We didn't need to use them in the end, it was only a precaution. Carry on Penny."

"Well I lied to you, I have no idea how to use one. In fact, I have no idea how to use any weapon."

"I guessed, you looked pretty horrified when I handed it to you."

"Well, would you be able to er, teach me how to use weapons properly. Like guns, knives etcetera." I finally asked.

"Ok." She shrugged and I relaxed.

"No, you are not allowed, no. I refuse to let you. You were supposed to leave this life behind you."

"It's part of who I am, Marcus."

"No." He crossed his arms and looked at her angrily.

"Please, dad, or Penny might die." She batted her long eyelashes that framed her bright blue eyes.

"No, that won't work on me Mindy."

Needless to say it did.

"Right this is a magazine, this holds your bullets." It was a few days after Mindy had got out of hospital and we were in a police shooting range, this was my first lesson on weapons. She told about all the different types of gun followed by all the different parts in the guns. "This is the safety catch take this off before a battle or you've lost a precious few seconds taking it off." I had to take notes the whole way through.

She went on to tell me about different knives. "Take this." She handed me one of her butterfly knives.

"But-"

"I know. Look after it, practice with it and if you lose it or damage it I will kill you. I'll want to see cuts on all of your fingers and a demonstration tomorrow, if you have enough fingers left, so I know you've practiced." She then lead me into a small room.

She handed me a pistol and a large pair of headphones. "Try and get his head." She nodded at a paper target cut out that was meant to look like a man's head and chest. I suddenly felt nervous. Mindy had been really nice to me the whole time, even patient when I couldn't get my head around the technical terms of a gun and not being able to identify what gun was what just by looking at it, so I couldn't understand why I was nervous at that moment.

I held the gun up to my eye level, pointed at the target and vaguely heard. "Just aim and pull the trigger. Don't close your eyes." She said loudly when I did. I took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. The gun made a loud bang. I placed the gun on the ledge in front of me and removed my headphones.

"Well, I've seen worse." She said and I groaned, my bullet hadn't even hit the target it skimmed the edge and made the target move. "You just need practice."

I've always I wished I could say I was the bright kid who had a few good friends. Well, I could add that I wish I could say I was the best shot too but I guess the latter half of my original was finally coming true. We had hated each other but somehow her almost death brought us together and I trusted her, truly trusted her.

**Thought I'd leave it on a nice note this time, I keep bumming you all out so here was a happy ending to a chapter. Hopefully will update soon. :D As always tell me what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

I trained for weeks with Hit Girl, to Marcus's displeasure. She was recovering slowly but she seemed stronger than ever.

I only now and again went out as The Purple Eradicator. Now I realised that weapons would be so much more useful, and I had killed three men, I felt naked without any protection.

I had almost lost each of my fingers, almost killed myself _and _Mindy, nearly deafened myself, tasered myself but finally I was there, I heard the words I had been dreaming of since we started the training, "Good job, you have finished your training. Well done."

"Really?" I pointed the MPK5 (sub machine gun) I was holding at the ceiling. I then realised what I had done and put the gun on the table.

"Yeah, you don't give yourself enough credit, you're a fast learner. Took me years to figure this stuff out." I sighed and smiled, but I got the feeling she was lying to me.

"You're so different when you're Mindy." I said in the nicest way possible.

"You're different when you're Penny. It's just the way we are." She tartly replied, I was now used to the swing between her pride and her sisterly love for me.

I was reminded of Chris, he was so different to his evil alter ego. _How can anyone live like that? One minute perfectly nice then the next a bastard super villain bent on taking over New York. _

"Stop thinking about that douche." Hit Girl said out of the blue, I looked at her oddly, "I can tell, your face becomes all sad when you think about him."

I turned from her and sighed. "Look, I, er have something for you…" Hit Girl told me nervously as she walked away into the next room, she then returned with two packages. "It's just to get you started." Her eyes were slightly watery and her cheeks a like pink.

I opened one box, it was empty. "You'll find that the gun you just used fits in there perfectly." She didn't look at me as she said it.

I opened the other greedily and there was one of her signature butterfly knives. "Oh Mindy I couldn't-"

"It's not mine, Marcus bought it and I have two of those." I guessed she was talking about the gun.

"Thanks… It's been fun." Her proud manner was rubbing off on me and I had never felt so awkward.

"Yeah, yeah it has." I could tell this was as strange a situation for her as it was for me.

"You coming out tonight?" I asked after a short silence.

"Yeah should be. Will Dave be there too?"

"I'll ask him. Meet you in the normal place?" I picked up the two boxes.

"Sounds great."

"Okay see you later, pipsqueak." The nickname kind of stuck and she didn't pout anymore when I said it.

I walked upstairs and out of the shooting range. I smiled as I saw my dad drive up. It was pouring down and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. He had no idea I had been in the shooting range, I told him I knew someone nearby and we had a project to do together.

"What you got there?" He asked as I put on my seatbelt.

"Some stuff for the project. No biggie." He started to drive off and I noticed something in the window, my dad tensed up. I looked and there was Chris getting into his signature limo with Bret.

"Did he follow you here?"

"I don't know." I replied truthfully, it was nice to be able to honestly answer my dad's questions sometimes.

When we returned Todd looked pissed off. "Dave wants you to phone him."

"Why?"

"I don't know, do I?" He stalked off towards the Xbox.

"Alright, thanks." I called after him.

I walked to my room and surprise, surprise Dave was waiting for me. "I was just about to-"

"We have a problem." He interjected."What?"

"Red Mist wants an 'epic battle.'"

I would have laughed if Dave hadn't looked so serious.

"Alright, I don't see any real problem with that."

"He wants one with just you."

"What? Is he out of his fucking mind?" I stage whispered.

"Um, yeah." Dave replied looking grumpy.

I sat on my bed. _Shit._ "I can't do it alone. Come with me."

"What?"

"He's gonna have someone to have his back in case he gets in trouble. I know Red Mist."

"No, you know Chris." He said calmly.

"What's the difference?" I cried out.

"You need to think of them as two people or you'll never be able to do this."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence.""That's not what I-" He replied exasperated.

"Of course not. What time and where?"

"Ten tonight, he said 'where you first fought.'" He looked a bit helpless and annoyed that he had no control over the situation.

"Wow, it's a him or me situation then. The place is a few doors down from the cinema on a roof somewhere round there. If you wanna help come, if you don't, don't bother." I replied.

"Penny-" His blue eyes shone, begging me to consider running or standing Chris up.

"Leave. Please." I told him. I couldn't deal with him, not at that moment.

Dave walked over to me and placed his hand on my face. I turned away from him angrily and he left down the drainpipe.

For once, I didn't feel upset. I didn't know if it was my training, my time spent with Mindy or that I finally had weapons to use, but I felt excited about my meeting with Red Mist. I felt like if I could stand up to my ex I could stand up to anyone.

"So what did Dave want?" Todd asked as he walked into the room. Twenty seconds later he could of asked the boy himself.

"Oh, he wanted to ask me out."

"Oh… and?"

"I said 'no.'" I told him stubbornly.

Todd sat on my bed, "You gotta get over Chris sometime."

"And to do that I need to be with Dave?"

"Well, maybe."

"No, Todd. I have to get out of this city. Get Chris out of my system."

"Oh yeah, your letter from George Washington University came through today. Here." He gave me the letter I ripped it open and stared at it in disbelief.

The school year was coming to a close, I had been awaiting an offer from the uni and finally I was told, "I got in?"

Todd laughed and hugged me. I was going to study psychology and I was thinking about joining the cadet corps there in New York, which only ran in the summer. Being a cop seemed like a good job choice for me. Todd was going to take a year out, he wanted to travel but I knew he would just live another year at home doing nothing.

I sat with Todd for hours just playing on the Xbox. Dad appeared every now and then and joined us. Both were quite surprised by my mean shooting skills, I told them I practiced in private.

I stared at the clock from about nine that night and felt dé-ja-vu come over me. I turned to my dad and stared at his face for a little while. _What am I doing? Am I just going to leave him? How will they tell him I died? I should be going to University soon and I'm throwing it away on fighting Red Mist?_

"Everything ok?"

"Just fine dad. I'm gonna go to bed." I sighed getting up and towards the stairs.

"Alright."

_Are they the last words you're going to say to your dad? And what about Todd?_

"Dad?" He looked up at me, "I'm sorry for being such hard work lately. Love you."

I heard "Love you too!" As I turned and ran up the stairs towards Todd's room.

I knocked and waited for him to answer. I didn't even want to think about what he was doing in there. Eventually I heard "Come in." And entered the dark, stuffy, sweat smelling room that belonged to my brother.

"Seriously, Todd open a window." Todd just laughed at me.

"The smell keeps everyone out."

"I'm off to bed now, I just wanted to say goodnight." Surely he would know something was up, I never said goodnight to him.

"Oh, alright. 'Night." Nope, he was as oblivious as ever.

I left his room and walked into mine, getting changed quickly and making my way to the cinema.

I was the first there, as usual. I made sure my gun had bullets, and that I definitely had my taser. Once I felt less paranoid, I pulled out my butterfly knife and started warming up with it. I heard light foot steps walk towards me.

I looked up from the knife but carried on my exercise. "Hit Girl."

"Eradicator." She sat on the ledge beside me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Kick Ass told me to come. He said if he came, it would be for the wrong reasons, so I had to come and help."

"At least he's honest. Thanks."

Hit Girl grunted her "you're welcome" and then asked, "You ready for this?"

"What do you think I've been training for?" I laughed.

I couldn't see much because the street lights aggravating position beneath me. I heard heavy footsteps after a long silence. "This is it." Whispered Hit Girl.

I couldn't speak, suddenly I was terrified. A large figure appeared, bald head, no cape. "It's Kick Ass." I said relaxing. "What are _you _doing here? I thought you weren't coming."

"Well, I couldn't leave you alone, could I?"

"You asked Hit Girl to be here." He turned away and I walked towards him placing my hand on his arm, "Thank you."

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A booming voice asked.

I turned away from Kick Ass and towards Red Mist followed by two large men.

"Red Mist." I greeted him coldly.

"I would have brought more guys, but I thought you'd only bring _him_." He told me nervously.

"There's no need to involve any of them in this. This is between you and me." I said feeling overprotective of my team mates.

"This is the last time I will offer this, if you are wise you will take it. Join me and we can be together, both sides of us. Reject the offer and one of us will die tonight." We walked towards each other into the middle of the roof. I considered his offer for a few seconds.

In front of me was the boy I dated, the man I loved and the enemy I fought, "If I join you, I will be happy for what? Weeks, months? I would never forgive myself if I joined you. I will always think 'what if' either way but staying where I am, I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not on this side. I'm sorry, but I'm staying exactly where I am beside Hit Girl and Kick Ass."

"So be it." He replied darkly.

I blocked his hand as he tried to punch me in the stomach. I kicked up into his face and punched him in the side. He placed his hand on his face and looked at the blood that he couldn't see, because of the lack of light. He performed a front kick, winding me momentarily and jab punched me in the forehead, because of a miscalculation. I stood up and made myself look intimidating. Red Mist stood a few steps in front of me and I performed a diagonal knee kick feeling his nose crunch against my thighbone.

"Bitch!" I heard him cry out through his hands. "Get 'em." He told his cronies and both Kick Ass and Hit Girl were suddenly being attacked.

He turned from me, "I said, this is just between us."

"I don't do what you say." His back was still facing me his legs outstretched as he kept himself balanced. So, I pulled out my knife and I ran towards him turning and falling onto my back at the last second, letting my body slide across the roof and under Red Mist's legs. I lifted my knife and stabbed it high into his thigh almost hitting his balls. I carried on sliding until I got up and rested on one knee. I was glad it had been raining all day suddenly. Red Mist was screaming along with the crony attacking Hit Girl.

"You fucking bitch!" He cried.

"You deserved it! You play fair or I play dirty." I told him stubbornly, as he limped towards me.

He stood inches from me, with a pistol in his hand. I stood up slowly. "Do it." I told him. I didn't quite know what I was doing, but something in my brain told me that telling him to kill me, was the only way of saving my life.

"What?" He said lowering the weapon slightly.

"Shoot me. I obviously mean nothing to you so, do it." I stared down the barrel of the gun.

He raised it again, to my forehead, "Is that what you think? You are so…"

"Infuriating?"

"Yeah, exactly." His brown eyes shone as he looked at me, with so much pain and aggression.

I noticed Kick Ass walk towards us. He had passed on his guy to Hit Girl and she was massacring him as fast as she had the other. I was mesmerised by her dainty figure for a second, she was so small but she was causing so much pain to the man she was destroying.

"I would have stood aside for you." He said forcefully.

"Really? Then stand aside and let me go."

"That-that's not what I meant. I can't now, it's gone to far. And I can never let you go. Not until you are dead." Chris's voice wavered slightly.

I knew what he meant and I smiled at him. "I'm sorry." He lowered the gun again and Kick Ass grabbed it making Red Mist send off a shower of bullets.

Kick Ass wrestled him to the ground and pushed the gun away. "You're not good enough for her."

"What the fuck?" Chris said trying to push the skinny boy off of him.

"Leave her alone."

"Will you both shut up?" I said pointing my machine gun at both of them. "Get off of him." Kick Ass got off Red Mist but I pushed him back down when he tried to get up, so they were lead next to each other. "You are as bad as each other. I'm sorry, Kick Ass but it's not gonna happen, and I have no desire to kill you, Red Mist." Hit Girl came to stand beside me. I added, "I need to get out of here, get away from you both." I looked up at the sky and 'round at the two bodies behind me. I had to make a decision in that second. I smiled at Hit Girl, "Good job. You're gonna have to take it from here. I've made my choice. The Purple Eradicator is going away for a while."

"What?" All three of them said in unison.

"You heard what I said. I don't want any more to do with this life. See ya later, slick." I said with a grin. Red Mist laughed and I jumped off of the roof.

I walked a few paces then turned back 'round to look at the roof. There were the three of them united for a few moments, by me. Red Mist stared down at me and I had a moment of relapse before realising that, that was the best way to leave them. My comrades and my ex. I saluted them and ran towards my future.

I thought it would be the last time I would ever take off my (now very roof burned) uniform but not all things come to an end when you expect it. But, that my friends is another story…

**Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Tell me what you think and the sequel is up under the name of "The Purple Eradicator 2." It's rated "M" so you won't see it automatically. I love you all!**


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